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REFERENCeS

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Report - Okanagan
Historical Society

Okanagan Historical Society



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LIBRARY




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©ntario Distotlcal Qocict^..



X



PAPERS AND REGORDS./



VOL. VII.



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I



â– -"â–  i i 1976



TORONTO:.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.

1906.



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©ntario Distotical Society. .
PAPERS AND RECORDS.



VOL. VII.



•- •■ 1 ] 1Q75



TORONTO:.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.

1906.



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CONTENTS.



PAOK

The First Chapter of Upper Canadian History. Avem Pardoe 5

In the Footsteps of the Habitant on the South Shore of the Detroit River. Margaret

Claire Kilroy - • 26

Births, Marriages and Deaths recorded in the Parish Registers of Assumption,

Sandwich. Franois Cleary 31

The Pennsylvania Germans of Waterloo County, Ontario. Rev. A. B. Sherk - 98

Black list 109

An Old Family Account Book. Michael Gonder Sherk 120

The Origin of the Maple Leaf as the Emblem of Canada. Janet Carnochan 139

Testimonial of Mr. Roger Bates, of the Township of Hamilton, District of Newcastle,

now living on his farm near Cobourg 146

Reminiscence of Mrs. White, of White's Mills, near Cobourg, Upper Canada,

formerly Miss Catherine Chrysler, of Sydney, near Belleville, aged 79 - 153

Memoirs of Colonel John Clark, of Port Dalhousie, C.W. 157

The Origin of the Names of the Post Offices in Simcoe Count?. David Williams - 193

Address to CoL E. Cruikshank 237



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CORRECTION FOR VOL I., PAGE 18.



Rev. Canon Jarvis, of Napanee, has recently pointed out an error
to be found on page 18 of Vol. I. of the Papers and Records. The
last entry on that page is printed to read as though the Rev. R. Pollard
and Miss Smith were married by the Rev. G. O'Kill Stuart By reference
to the original now in the vault of the Diocese of Ontario at Kingston
it is found that this line should read, *' by me, R. Pollard, curate and
Tniasionary.'' The confusion of "Miss Smith'* and "missionary" is
curious. The full record reads as follows:

"A.D. 1814, Dec. 23, married John Abraham and Rachel Snider.
spinster, both of this township, were married by license on the twenty-
third day of December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fourteen,
by me, R. Pollard, curate and miss'y. Witnesses present, Abram Snider>
father; Rachel Snider, mother; Jonas Snider and Mary Snider."

Attention might be called to the fact that the Rev. Richard Pollard
was the Church of England clergyman at Sandwich, and it would
thus appear that when the troubles occurred on the Detroit River, Mr.
Pollard was sent for a time to carry on the work at St. John's Church,
Bath, after the departure of Rev. John Langhom in 1813. Rev. Canon
Jarvis reports the discovery of another Langhom register for 1787 in
addition to that printed in Vol. I.



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THE FIKST CHAPTER OF UPPER CANADIAN HISTORY.

On Certain Obecurities Therein.— The Quarrel between the Goyemor-in-Chief and
the Lieutenant-Grovemor. — Disagreement as to Their Powers and UnsuooesBfal
Attempt of the Foreign Secretary to Reconcile Them. — Resignation of Both
Grovemors and What May Have Caused it. — Important Historical Documents
Now First Published.

By Avern Pabdoe, Librarian to the Legislative Assembly.*

Brief as has been the separate existence of Upper Canada, the
student who attempts to trace the early history of the Province finds
almost insurmountable obstacles in his path. At the very outset of his
task he is confronted with difficulties which his guides, the historians,
have found it impossible to solve, and therefore have simply dodged
or ignored.

FoT instance, the very first thing of which the student would wish
to assure himself would be the extent of the autonomy conceded by the
Act which set apart Upper from Lower Canada. He would refer to
the creating Act, 31 Geo. III., c. 31, 1791, the " Act making further
provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec." This is
generally cited as the Act dividing the Province of Quebec into two
Provinces. It is in reality nothing of the kind. It recites that — ^not
Parliament, but — ^His Majesty (acting, of course, under advice) has
been pleased to signify his Royal Intention to divide the Province of
Quebec into two Provinces to be called Upper and Lower Canada.
Whereupon Parliament enacts that in each of the new Provinces to be
created % the King there shall be a Legislative Council and an
Assembly ; and that the laws to be passed by these bodies and assented
to in the name of His Majesty by such person as shall be appointed
Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, shall be good laws. Other clauses
authorize the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor to district the Pro-
\4nce, call the Legislature together, and so on. But not one word can be
found in the Act authorizing the appointment of a Governor or a lieu-
tenant-Govemor, and not one word as to where the authority of eac^ of
these high officials begins or ends. If we go back to the earlier legisla-
tion, we get no more light The first document issued after the cession
of Canada to Britain, the Proclamation of 1768, mentions the Governor
as being already in esse, and as having had certain duties cast upon

* Toronto, January, 1906.



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6 ONTARIO HISTORICAL SOGIETIT.

him. And in the Quebec Act, 1774, there is mention of an already
existing Governor.

It is clear that the Governor does not receive his powers from
Parliament, for Parliament does not create him nor attempt to define
bis powers and duties, but from the Crown, which does. It appears,
then, that the Crown, immediately on the cession, appointed an oflBcial
whom it called " Captain-General and Govemor-in-Chief in and over
Our Province of Quebec in America and of all our Territories depend-
ent thereupon," and under him created a Lieutenant-Governor who was
simply the deputy of the Govemor-in-Chief, to assume the duties of
the latter on his incapacity or in his absence. When the Province
was divided, these same offices were continued, except that there were
two Lieutenant-Governors appointed, one for each Province. Of
course there must have been some change in the duties of all of them
consequent on the division of the Province, but search will be made
in ^ vain through all the ordinary sources in the endeavor to find out
what those changes were. Not from any printed document can it be
found to what extent the powers of the Crown were delegated to the
Govemor-in-Chief, to what extent to the Lieutenant-Governor, or to
what extent they were not delegated at all. The powers conferred on
the respective officers will be what are to be foimd in the documents
appointing them, and the appointing power in those days was under
very few restraints, and those not statutory, as to what powers might
be conferred and what retained. The powers of the GK)vemor-in-Chief
and Lieutenant-Governor might vary greatly not only as between dif-
ferent times and places, but as between diflFerent individuals, and these
powers may be in process of extension at one time and place and in
process of limitation at another. The powers of each official will be
ascertainable only from his Commission, and these may not be the
same as those of his predecessor or of his sui^jessor. And even more
important than the powers given in the Commission will be the powers
conferred in the instructions which accompany the Commission or
which may follow and modify it at any time.

In order to get a fair start in our history we need at the very first
to examine the powers of the Govemor-in-Chief and Lieutenant-
Governor, and this has hitherto been impossible. Very few of the
Upper Canadian Commissions can be found in print, and as to the
Instructions, it was formerly the practice to keep them as profoundly
confidential documents. It is difficult to imagine what would have
happened if a member of the Family Compact had been asked in the
House to bring down a copy of His Excellency's Instractions. As to



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THE FIRST CHAPT£S OF UPPEK CANADIAN BISTORT. 7

Lower Canada, the darkness is not so dense, for some of the early Com-
missions are to be found in a Collection printed by Baron Maseres, onoe
Attorney-General of the Province, in 1772; and, besides, much more
printed material for the early history of the Lower Province exists
than for that of Upper Canada. Because of this lack of foundation
material, the inner history of the most important events in the first
years of Upper Canada has yet to be written. Why did this Province
lose the services of Qen. Simcoe^ who was an ideal man for the place,
and was at first extremely well pleased with his duties ? It was from
his suddenly throwing up his office and leaving a land-jobbing successor
behind him that some of the bitterest controversies arose which beset
the Province's early years.

When Siiacoe took office in 1791, Major-Gen. Sir Alured Clark
was administering the Govemorship-in-Chief, in the absence of Lord
Dorchester, Grovemor-in-Chief (formerly Guy Carleton), who had
gone to England. It is probable that Sir Alured, being only hcum
tenenSy woidd not care to meddle with so efficient and positive an officer
as Gen. Simcoe; so these two got along not merely without clashing
but to the perfect satisfaction of both. In Sept, 1793, Lord Dorchester
returned and resumed office. He proceeded almost immediately to
reconstruct Simcoe. He publicly mortified the Lieutenant-Gtovemor
by compelling him to change the system of contracting for supplies;
sent him against his wish and judgment with the Upper Canadian
Militia to establish a fort on the Maumee* River, in what is now the
State of Ohio, but was then Indian Territory; overruled Simcoe'fr
choice of a site near Lopdon as the Provincial capital; threw upon
him the ungracious task of refusing entrance to the Province to its
first distinguished foreign visitor, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Lian'
court; and so on.

Sometimes, in his despatches, Dorchester flung sarcasms at Simcoe,.
such as, that he will consult the latter whenever he feels himself in
need of his advice; and sometimes he snubs him unmercifully, as, for
instance, when Simcoe remonstrated against Dorchester^s policy of
denuding the Upper Province of troops and massing them in Quebec^
Dorchester says he is sorry the disposition of the troops does not suit
the Lieutenant-Governor, but as long as he, Dorchester, is Commander-
in-Chief, he will act on his own judgment.

Passages at arms of this character were followed by letters from

* There in a general misappreheiiBioii as to the situation of the Fort which Simooe
bnilt in the Indian Territory. Because it was called Fort Miami some have supposed it
was on that Miami River which is a tributary of the Ohio. The fort was situated on the
Maumee River, not far from liake Erie, into which the river flows. The Maumee is called
the Miami on some maps of date subsequent to Simcoe's operations.



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8 ONTARIO HIOTOftlCAL SOCIITT.

both of the Qoyemors to the Duke of Portland, who was then Foreign
Seoretary and charged with Colonial affairs, in which letters each of
the officers complains bitterly of the other's trying to wrest his authority
from him. Dorchester says that for him the future depends on whether
he is to receive orders from Simcoe, or Simooe from him. He speaks
of the expectations Simcoe must have had of ^^ an independent com-
mand in the upper country" — of which statement more anon* Dor-
chester also complains that he had been slighted by the .Duke of Port-
land, that communications have passed over his head directly between
the Oovenunent and his inferior officers, and vice versa, instead of
through him; that power has been withdrawn from him, and his
authority weakened, in fact, virtually superseded.

Simcoe, in his letters, states that Dorchester's actions have blighted
all his hopes and defeated all his measures — measures which had
received the approval of His Majesty's Ministers. Had he known these
were to be checked, counteracted and annihilated he would have been
positively dishonest not to have resigned. Simcoe also blurted out
his dissatisfaction with the Indian Department, which was under Dor-
chester, and charged it with corruption and incapacity, and declared
that his authority had been so weakened by Dorchester that he declined
to hold himself responsible for the maintenance of peace.

Both Dorchester and Simcoe asked the Duke to define their powers.
In reply to Lord Dorchester, the Duke of Portland wrote a very im-
portant letter, a brief summary of which appeared in the volume of the
Canadian Archives for 1891. Thanks to the courtesy of Dr. Doughty,
Dominion Archivist, I am able to give below the full text of this docu-
ment, to which I refer the reader. It will be seen to be written in a
pacificatory strain, and to bear the interpretation that the Duke is
seeking to limit Dorchester's powers to strictly military matters, and
to justify his own direct communicating with Simcoe whenever it
was on a matter which could be called a civil one.

Now, Dorchester appears to have taken a far more comprehensive
view of the powers and authorities entrusted to him, or at least to
have assumed that it was his privilege to decide whether a certain
matter was a military or a civil one, and as ttese were war times he
seems to have so construed his military powers as to put in his hands
the power to decide such purely domestic questions as the location of
settlements. He would, in fact, have made Upper Canada a military
colony, planting settlers nowhere except in places where they could be
defended against the United States, which was not at all Simcoe's idea,
as is evidenced by the fact that one of Simcoe's first official acts was to
issue a cordial invitation to settlers from the United States, though.



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THE FIRST CUAPTEU OF UPPER CANADIAN HISTORY. 9

between that country and Britain the angriest of feelings still prevailed.

The Duke's letter finished the business. Instead of satisfying his
prancing proconsuls, he added to their exasperation. Dorchester
peremptorily resigned ; on account of old age, he said ; and went back
to England, where he afterwards held several important military com-
mands, living for twelve years, and then succumbing to an apoplectic
attack. And Simcoe obtained leave of absence " on account of ill-
health," and immediately took employment in an inferior position at
a less salary in that most unhealthy island, San Domingo.

It is quite in accord with the fine traditions of the British Civil
Service that not a word of this unpleasantness should have been
allowed to become public so long as harm could be done or suscepti-
bilities hurt by the disclosure. Ninety-five years after the resignation
of the Governors, Mr. D. B. Read wrote his " Life and Times of Gten.
John Graves Simcoe." In it there cannot be found the remotest allu-
sion to the disagreements between the two Governors. At that time
nothing had become public on the subject. Soon after, in 1891, a vol-
ume of the Canadian Archives was published containing a very con-
densed account of the correspondence from which I have made the fore-
going quotations. Luckily for Kingsford, the volume of his monu-
mental History treating of that period was still on the stocks, and he
was able to get in a few pages showing that all was not harmonious
between the two Governors. Mr. Duncan Campbell Scott, in his
recently published " John Graves Simcoe," in the " Makers of
Canada " series, mentions briefly the facts of the quarrel. But neither
Scott nor Kingsford, to my mind, attaches sufficient importance to the
personal side of the disagreement. They prefer to ascribe Dorchester's
resignation to mortification at the Home Government's interference
Avith his Indian policy and Simcoe' s to ill-health. But this does not
consort with Dorchester's immediate acceptance of other employment
under the same Government, nor with his own plea of old age, no more
than does Simcoe's pleading ill-health and then going off to San
Domingo. As a matter of fact, Simcoe went so far in some of his
letters to England as to make it utterly impossible for Dorchester and
himself to work together again, and Dorchester's actions towards
Simcoe were even more eloquent than his words in expressing his
reciprocation of Simcoe's opinion of him. It really seems as if the
personal quarrel brought about what was substantially hara-kiri on
the part of both contestants.

What was the underlying cause of all this quarrelling? We have
seen that there was none of it between Clarke and Simcoe. Their
official correspondence ends with the heartiest expressions of esteem and



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10 ONTARIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

confidence. The quarrel could not have occurred at a period nor with
consequences more unfortunate for the country. Dorchester was by
far the ablest of the British generals who went through the Revolu-
tionary War. Some military men have said that if he had been in
supreme command he would probably have succeeded in postponing
American independence. Simcoe was equally well fitted for the
Lieutenant-Grovemorship. Here were two very able men and honor-
able men, patriots both, if ever there was patriotism, and both
thoroughly imbued with a sense of their responsibility. Was it all
due to the fact that they were too much alike in disposition and ability
to be the one subordinated to the other ? Did Simcoe know the extent
to which he was subordinated to Dorchester? Had, in fact, either of
these satraps a true idea of the extent of his involvement with the
other ? Simcoe seems to have had the idea that except in actual mili-
tary operations he was responsible to Great Britain alone ; in fact, Dor-
chester wrote that Simcoe " seemed to think he had an independent
command." Dorchester, on the other hand, was quite convinced that
Simcoe was his inferior officer.

How did they get these ideas ? Plainly from the only proper source
for such information to come ; from the official source which was open
to them, but to no one else on this side of the water ; from their Com-
missions and Instructions. And upon this matter I am able to throw
some light.

A short time ago a visitor to the Legislative Library asked me to
explain the status of the Lieutenant-Gk)vernor in the Province of Upper
Canada. I gave him an answer in line with the first part of what I
have written above, viz., that there were no printed documents from
which he could get the information, but I inferred that the Gtovemor-
in-Chief was Commander of the JForces and that the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor had the civil authority. As I could not give chapter and verse
in support of my opinion, I began looking for the text of the Commis-
sions. I wrote to Dr. Doughty, Dominion Archivist, asking if Simcoe's
Commission was among the Canadian Archives. He replied that he
had ascertained it was among the Archives still in the custody of the
Secretary of State. An application to the latter official brought
Simcoe's Commission to daylight for the first time in about a cen-
tury. Soon afterward, Dr. Doughty's first Keport on the Archives
appeared. Singularly, he had been working on similar lines. The
volume contained the text of the Commissions and Instructions of
several of the Governors-in-Chief before the division of the Province-
It did not contain, however, the very documents I wanted, which were
the Instructions to Simcoe on his first appointment and the Instructions



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THE FIRST CHAPTER OF UPPER CANADIAN HISTORY. 11

to Dorchester on his reappointment consequent on the division of the
Province. Another application to the Secretary of State' s^j^ice elicited
a copy of Dorchester's Commission and Instructions, and a courteous
offer to set on foot an enquiry which will probably result in the cor-
responding Instructions to Simcoe being found.

Sufficient can be learned from the Instructions to Dorchester wholly
to justify his attitude towards Simcoe, however unfortunate may have
been the results flowing therefrom. It will be seen from the text
printed below that the Instructions — which had the force of law, mind
— ^give him absolute authority over the Lieutenant-Governor, whom he
could even dismiss from office without assigning any reason. They
give him power to call the Provincial Parliament, to prorogue it or to
dissolve it at will ; in a word, they enable him at will to convert the
Lieutenant-Governor into a simple head-clerk. It is true that some
of the powers conferred on Dorchester were latent as to Upper Canada
as long as he remained outside the Province. But how as to LoAver
Canada? Was the Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada a nullity
as long as the Govemor-in-Chief was in Quebec ? Or was there a kind
of extra-territorial fiction with regard to the presence of the Govemor-
in-Chief in Quebec? In any event, Dorchester could have reduced
Simcoe' s civil powers to nought by simply stepping across the border
line; and, that being so, he probably felt that he, Dorchester, was in
reality responsible for the conduct of affairs in this Province, and